What Does Psalm 143:7 Mean in the King James?
Hear me speedily, O LORD: my spirit faileth: hide not thy face from me, lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
Here the face is presence and the failing ruach is breath: the verse binds being seen to the breath that keeps life from the pit.
THE MEANING
When your breath feels spent, this verse gives the moment its words: a plea to be heard quickly and not left without the LORD’s face turned toward you. The pit is the feared destination of death, close enough that hiddenness feels like a descent.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the idea that “spirit” is separate from bodily life: ruach means breath, and its failing is bound to the threat of death.
THE ROOT
רוּחִי
rûḥî
GROWS FROM
ר־ו־ח
r-w-ḥ
Breath or moving air; the same consonants also carry the sense of finding room or relief.
The KJV’s “spirit” is ruach: one Hebrew word for breath and wind, also rendered as spirit. A related branch means finding room or relief, so the failing breath here is life losing room as the pit draws near.
ALSO GROWS
rûaḥ: Breath, wind; also rendered “spirit.”
רוּחַ
This is the word in the verse: its breath meaning keeps the speaker’s failing life in view.
rāvaḥ: To gain room or relief, to become spacious.
רָוַח
The shared consonants link breath with room to live; here the breath is failing as the pit narrows the speaker’s horizon.
revach: Room, relief, or respite.
רֶוַח
This branch makes the contrast audible: ruach can name breath, while its related word names the relief of having room.
כָּלְתָה
kaltah
GROWS FROM
כ־ל־ה
k-l-h
To be finished, consumed, or brought to an end.
The word translated “faileth” carries the sense of being consumed or coming to an end. The breath is not merely discouraged; it is spent toward its limit, which makes the plea against the pit starkly immediate.
ALSO GROWS
kalah: To be finished, consumed, or brought to an end.
כָּלָה
This is the verb’s root form and shows the force behind “faileth”: the speaker’s breath is reaching its end.
killayon: Destruction or utter consumption.
כִּלָּיוֹן
This related noun carries the root toward total ending, echoing the death feared in the image of the pit.
tikhlah: Completion or fullness.
תִּכְלָה
The same root can name completion; here that reaching of an end is heard as the breath running out.
פָּנֶיךָ
pāneḵā
GROWS FROM
פ־נ־ה
p-n-h
To turn or face toward; the related noun names the face or presence.
The face is not only a visible feature: it is the presence turned toward someone. “Hide not thy face” therefore asks that this presence not be withdrawn while the speaker’s breath is failing.
ALSO GROWS
panim: Face; presence.
פָּנִים
This noun lets “thy face” name the LORD’s presence with the speaker, not only an image of facial features.
panah: To turn or face toward.
פָּנָה
The related verb reveals the orientation inside the image: the plea is for the LORD not to turn away.
lifnei: Before, in front of, or in the presence of.
לִפְנֵי
This related form preserves the sense of being before a face, clarifying what the speaker fears losing.
THE PATTERN
Life is sustained by God’s giving presence and breath, so the hiding of the face is experienced as life withdrawing.
Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled: thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust.The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life.Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;THE THREAD
Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled: thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust.Psalm 104:29 brings the same Hebrew word, ruach, into an explicit sequence: the face is hidden, breath is gathered, and creatures die. It opens the fear in Psalm 143:7 as a direct bond between the LORD’s presence and the life carried by breath.
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